Josh Thompson

The Rewriting of Open Source History

Open Source is like FDR's New Deal. It's been reinvented and used to accomplish so many goals, it has become a mess. Open Source appears to work until it achieves success, then a few participants look for ways to profit and mini-MSFTs pop up everywhere. It turns ugly as soon as money is put on the table; when everyone is making contributions and no visible earnings picture is on the horizon, everyone's happily playing. Open Source turns into a battle of money and personality when it achieves success, that will probably be its nemesis. P.S. I liked the article.

Microsoft Be Warned: IBM Boards the Open Source Software Express

IBM is embracing Open Source because IBM is in too weak of a market position to even attempt to sell proprietary software. Oh, how the mighty have fallen down the mountain they originally created, and how hard some try to spin the collapse.
P.S. thanks for mentioning Lotus; it was a flashback to the latter 80's and the peanut PC, Charlie Chaplin commercials, etc.